077 

371         Domestic  Facts  and   Forces. 

VI. — Marriage. 


g  =i  A  SUNDAY  LECTURE 

0 


Congregation  Rodeph  Shalom 

Eighth  Street,  near  Perm  Avenue 

PITTSBURG,  PA. 


RABBI  J.  LEONARD  LEVY 


SERIES  1.  SUNDAY,  Feb.  16,  1902.  No.  17 


These  Sunday  Lectures  are  distributed  FREE  OP  CHARGE  in  the  Temple 
to  all  who  attend  the  Services. 

Another  edition  is  distributed  free  throughout  the  City  to  friends  of 
liberal  religious  thought. 

An  extra  edition  is  printed  for  those  wishing  to  have  them  mailed  to 
friends  residing  out  of  the  City. 

Apply  to  CHARLES  H.  JOSEPH, 

202  Ferguson  Block,  Pittsburgh. 


SUNDAY   LECTURES 

BEFORE 

CONGREGATION  RODEPH  SHALOM. 


SERIES   I. 


1. 

For  What  Do  We  Stand? 

15.     Gc 

2. 

The  Consequences  of  Belief. 

16.     PI 

3. 

The  Modern  Millionaire. 

17.     M 

4. 

The  Wandering  Jew. 

18. 

5. 

A  Father's  Power. 

19. 

6. 

A  Mother's  Influence. 

20. 

7. 

The  Child's  Realm. 

21. 

8. 

The  Chosen  of  the  Earth. 

22. 

9. 

Atheism  and  Anarchism. 

23. 

10. 

A  Jewish  View  of  Jesus. 

24. 

11. 

The  Doom  of  Dogma. 

25. 

12. 

The  Dawn  of  Truth. 

26. 

13. 

Friendships. 

27. 

14. 

Zionism. 

28. 

Gone,  but  Not  Forgotten. 
Pleasures  and  Pastimes. 
Marriage. 


CONGREGATIONAL  ACTIVITIES. 


SUNDAY,   FEBRUARY  23rd. 

10:30  a.  m Service  and  Lecture 

2:80  p.  m Congregational  School 

4:00  p.  m Children's  Service 

4:30  p.  m Teachers'  Meeting 

TUESDAY,  FEBRUARY  25th. 

2:30  p.  m. ,     Young  Ladies'   Sewing 
Society. 


WEDNESDAY,  FEBRUARY  26th. 
4:30  p.  m Post  Graduate  Class 

THURSDAY,  FEBRUARY  27th. 
4:00  p.  m C.  J.  W.  Bible  Class 

SATURDAY,  MARCH  1st. 
10:30  a.  m.,    Sabbath  Service  and  Ser- 


DOMESTIC  FACTS  AND  FORCES/ 
VI.— MARRIAGE. 


A  SUNDAY  LECTURE 

BEFORE 

CONGREGATION  RODEPH  SHALOM, 

BY 

RABBI  J.  LEONARD  LEVY. 
Pitlsbvrg,  Febrttarv  i6(h,  1902. 


And  Adam  said,  This  is  bone  of  iny  bones,  and  flesh  of  my  flesh  :  she  shall  be 
called  Woman,  because  she  was  taken  out  of  Man.  Therefore  shall  a  man  leave  his 
father  and  his  mother,  and  shall  cleave  unto  his  wife  :  and  they  shall  be  one  flesh4 
(Genesis  ii,  23,  24.) 

Love  is  strong  as  death,  jealousy  cruel  as  the  grave.  .  .  .  Many  waters  cannot 
quench  love,  neither  can  the  floods  drown  it ;  if  a  man  would  give  all  the  substance 
of  his  house  for  love,  it  would  utterly  be  contemned.  (Song  of  Songs  viii,  6,  7.) 

There  is  a  beauu-ul  legend  in  the  Talmud  which  tells  us  that 
when  God  created  man  and  woman,  He  formed  them  together,  not 
only  simultaneously  in  time,  but  physically  united,  like  the  Siamese 
twins.  In  the  process  of  time,  the  same  legend  tells  us,  it  was 
found  necessary  to  divide  the  physical  bond  that  connected  the 
numan  pair.  liiver  since  then,  for  every  human  being  created 
there  is  supposed  to  exist  a  counterpart,  and  every  soul  ushered 
into  this  world  in  human  form  is  destined  to  seek  out  its  associate 
01  the  opposite  sex  to  which  it  would  have  been  physically  bound, 
if  the  old  system  had  continued  to  prevail. 

It  is  only  a  legend,  but  how  sweetly  it  seems  to  teach  us  that 
the  union  of  man  and  woman  by  the  marriage  tie  should  not  be 
deemed  as  a  matter  or  chance,  a  hap-hazard  undertaking,  but  the 
result  of  soul  seeking  soul,  of  individuality  reaching  out  after 
sundered  individuality,  of  self  seeking  its  other  self.  Among  the 
best  men  and  women  of  earth,  among  the  highest  types  of  spiritual 
mannood  ana  womanhood,  we  believe  marriage  is  conceived  to  be 
the  union  of  sundered  individualities,  which  are  necessary  to  each 
other,  the  joining  of  opposites  to  make  a  perfect  whole.  But  we 
must  not  imagine  ton  a  moment  that  marriage,  thus  understood, 
nas  come  to  mean  what  it  does,  by  one  tremendous  leap  and  jump. 
\Ve  have  learned  too  much,  within  the  past  fifty  years  from  such 


*Stenographically  reported  by  Caroline  Loewenthal. 

1 


21 17777 


men  as  Spencer,  Darwin  and  Huxley,  to  believe  that  anything  in 
this  world  is  01  spontaneous  growth.  We  are  led  to  believe  that 
all  the  conditions,  by  which  we  are  surrounded  in  the  world  of 
to-day,  are  the  product  of  an  orderly  evolution.  Our  very  bodies 
prove  it;  society  is  an  ocular  demonstration  of  it;  marriage  is  a 
palpable  evidence  of  it. 

The  seeking  of  soul  tor  its  sundered  kindred  soul  is  among 
the  cuief  ot  the  forces  at  the  very  basis  of  civilization.  Abolish 
the  home  ana  you  have  given  a  death-thrust  to  morals.  Without 
noly  matrimony,  home  is  impossible.  Without  the  home,  morality 
will  tnrive  but  little.  The  only  temple  in  which  a  trinity  may  be 
logically  worshipped,  so  to  speak,  is  the  home,  for  there  you  find 
the  only  sacred  trinity  of  mother,  father  and  child.  The  home  is 
the  Temple  of  L»ove,  with  its  sanctuary  adorned  by  the  altar  of 
sacrifice,  the  seven-armed  candlestick  of  faith  and  enlightenment, 
the  tabie  ana  shrew-bread  of  modesty  and  simplicity  and  the  Holy 
of  Holies  with  its  shrine  of  virtue.  But  the  home,  thus  under- 
stood, is  also  not  the  product  of  a  momentary  creation.  Like  mar- 
riage, it  is  the  outcome  of  long  ages  of  struggles  and  survivals. 

Marriage,  as  primeval  man  understood  it,  w£s  a  vastly  different 
matter  xi-om  that  which  we  now  recognize  it  to  be.  Our  modern 
conception  owes  its  origin,  largely,  to  the  lessons  inculcated  in 
the  Sacred  Scriptures.  In  them  we  are  taught  tnat  God  is  reported 
to  have  said,  "It  is  not  meet  that  man  should  live  alone."  We  are 
there  taught  that  God  created  woman  out  of  man,  as  though  to 
place  him  not  in  a  position  of  authority,  but  as  the  defender  of  the 
weaker  sex.  There  we  are  taught  that  woman  was  bone  of  man's 
bone,  flesh  of  man's  flesh,  his  equal  in  rights  and  privileges,  that 
marriage  should  be  the  ideal  of  mutuality,  of  reciprocity.  There 
we  are  taught,  "therefore  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  his 
mother  and  cleave  unto  his  wife,  so  that  they  become  one  flesh." 
But  the  Bible  was  written  late  in  the  development  of  the  human 
lamily.  For  hundreds  oi  thousands  of  years  had  man  been  on 
earth,  before  the  Bible  appeared.  It  is  a  new  book,  comparatively 
speaking,  only  a  couple  of  thousand  years  old. 

Originally,  men  and  women  lived,  in  primitive  society,  in  a  con- 
dition called  by  scholars,  "promiscuity."  There  was  no  conception 
of  the  marriage  tie.  Any  man  might  possess  any  and  all  women  he 
could  capture  or  purchase.  The  relationship  between  the  sexes  was 
practically  "common  among  inferior  creatures."  There  was  no  prop- 
erty to  be  left  to  the  family,  no  state  to  demand  the  care  of  the  off- 
spring. The  relationship  was  purely  sensual  and  altogether  animal. 

2 


This  evidently  did  not  work  to  the  satisfaction  of  mankind,  and 
changes,  after  many  thousands  of  years  had  passed,  were  brought 
about.  Then  we  find  a  condition  called,  Endogamy,  in  which  broth- 
ers and  sisters  became  husbands  and  wives;  in  which  only  people  of 
blood  relation  could  enter  into  the  marriage  relationship, 
in  which  the  privilege  of  marriage  was  not  permitted  be- 
tween members  of  different  tribes.  These  ancJer.t  mar- 
riages of  such  close  blood  relationship  produced  great 
degeneracy,  and  it  is  still  the  opinion,  nay  it  is  the 
positive  teaching  of  many  of  our  best  physicians  that  consanguinity 
is  not  an  ideal  relationship  in  marriage.  Another  scheme  was  tried, 
called  Exogamy,  in  which  a  body  of  men,  brothers,  would  marry  a 
body  of  women,  sisters,  who  were  members  of  other  tribes  and 
clans.  This  plan  also  failed  to  produce  desired  results,  and  then 
two  rival  systems  were  adopted,  one  called  polygamy  and  the 
other  called  polyandry.  In  the  former  man  was  acknowledged  as  the 
head  of  the  family,  with  the  right  of  possessing  as  many  wives  as  he 
desired.  In  the  latter,  woman  was  given  the  privilege  of  possessing 
as  many  husbands  as  she  wished.  It  has  been  observed  by  scientific 
men  that  the  number  of  men  and  women  in  the  world  is  practically 
equal.  It  has  therefore  occurred  to  them  to  lay  down  as  a  law  in  so- 
ciety that  as  there  are  as  many  men  as  women,  or  nearly  so,  it  seems 
to  be  the  design  of  nature  that  monogamy  should  prevail.  When  we 
reach  the  time,  when  one  man  takes  to  himself  one  woman  in  mar- 
riage, we  have  already  reached  a  very  high  stage  in  the  history  of 
civilization. 

This,  then,  seems  to  us  to  be  a  fixed  principle,  that  man  shall 
seek  his  mate,  and  in  wedding  her,  he  is  supposed  to  find  the  other 
half  of  his  own  soul.  And  when  marriage  is  thus  understood,  when 
marriage  is  thus  conceived,  when  marriage  is  thus  entered  into,  it 
becomes  a  great  blessing.  The  union  of  opposites  seems  to  be  the 
great  law  of  nature.  Man  stands  for  one  element,  woman  for  an- 
other. Man  represents  the  law  of  variation,  woman  the  law  of  her- 
edity. Heredity  would  give  us  the  same  condition  of  things  without 
variation  of  form  or  shape  or  size.  Variation  tends  to  produce  dif- 
ferentiation. Man  stands  for  strength  and  vigor;  woman  for  grace 
and  beauty.  Man  stands  for  the  mind  and  the  head;  woman  for  the 
heart  and  the  soul  of  humanity.  And  it  is  in  bringing  these  two 
together,  in  the  union  of  these  two  forces,  that  we  find  the  ideal 
marriage.  No  one  has  expressed  this  more  beautifully  than  Tenny- 
son, in  these  words: 


"For  woman  is  not  undeveloped  man, 

But  diverse:  could  we  make  her  as  the  man, 

Sweet  love  were  slain:  his  dearest  bond  is  this, 

Not  like  to  like,  but  like  in  difference. 

Yet  in  the  long  years  liker  must  they  grow; 

The  man  be  more  of  woman,  she  of  man; 

He  gain  in  sweetness  and  in  moral  height, 

Nor  lose  the  wrestling  thews  that  throw  the  world; 

She  mental  breadth,  nor  fail  in  childward  care, 

Nor  lose  the  childlike  in  the  larger  mind; 

Till  at  the  last  she  set  herself  to  man, 

Like  perfect  music  unto  noble  words; 

And  so  these  twain,  upon  the  skirts  of  Time, 

Sit  side  by  side,  full  summed  in  all  their  powers, 

Dispensing  harvest,  sowing  the  To-be, 

Self-reverent  each  and  reverencing  each, 

Distinct  in  individualities, 

But  like  each  other  even  as  those  who  love. 

Then  reign  the  world's  great  bridals,  chaste  and  calm; 

Then  springs  the  crowning  race  of  mankind." 

Unfortunately,  however,  even  among  people  who  believed  in  the 
"one  wife  for  the  one  husband"  principle,  woman  was  long  regarded 
as  a  piece  of  property.  If  you  read  the  law  books  of  the  world  up  to 
the  period  of  recent  times,  you  will  find  that  woman  was  still  an 
object  owned  by  man,  and  to  this  day  the  law,  the  force  of  the 
stronger,  often  makes  woman  a  chattel,  a  plaything,  a  toy  for  man. 
Under  such  conditions  marriage  can  never  become  sacred.  Marriage 
is  only  true  when  there  is  a  union  of  hearts  as  well  as  a  joining  of 
hands.  Nay,  matrimony  means  rather  the  union  of  lives  than  the 
signing  of  contracts.  True  marriage  means  heart  going  out  to  heart, 
hand  seeking  hand,  life  joining  life,  for  all  existence,  here  and 
beyond.  Marriage  means  the  union  of  two  kindred  souls,  attracted 
to  each  other  by  none  but  spiritual  considerations.  Marriage  means 
the  sanctification  of  all  the  powers  within  us.  It  means  the  hallow- 
ing of  all  the  instincts  and  all  the  intuitions  we  have  within  us,  for 
self-preservation  and  for  race  preservation. 

Marriage,  according  to  the  Jewish  church,  is  not  a  sacrament, 
inviolable  and  irrefragable,  an  undertaking  which  can  never  be  dis- 
solved under  any  circumstances.  Nay,  we  would  not  have  it  so  if  we 
could.  For  upon  entering  into  matrimony,  too  much  is  at  stake,  to 
make  it  eternally  binding  under  all  conditions,  especially  for  the 
woman,  who  has  brought  to  the  altar  an  innocence  and  a  virtue 
rarely  possessed  by  the  man.  When  woman  enters  into  marriage,  the 
stake  she  puts  up  is  infinitely  higher  than  that  put  up  by  man. 
Therefore,  we  would  not  have  man  and  woman  bound  to  all  eternity, 
unable  to  separate  even  by  the  power  and  consent  of  law.  Nor  do  we 
conceive  that  marriage  is  a  mere  contract,  a  mere  entrance  into  a 
bargain,  a  mere  business  proposition,  although,  unfortunately,  it  fre- 

4 


quently  is  nothing  else.  Nor  do  we  conceive  of  marriage  as  a  mere 
deed  of  transfer,  the  passing  over  of  the  body  of  the  one  into  the 
keeping  of  the  other. 

Marriage  is  to  be  considered,  according  to  the  highest  ideals  of 
religion,  as  a  holy  vow,  a  sacred  obligation,  an  ethical  undertaking, 
to  be  adhered  to  faithfully,  honorably,  'honestly,  and  to  this  vow, 
obligation  and  undertaking,  God  and  the  State  are  witnesses  de- 
manding and  guaranteeing  stability.  Marriage  requires  love.  With- 
out love,  before  God,  there  can  be  no  true  marriage.  The  law  may 
bind  two  people  together;  under  the  law,  so  long  as  thy  are  thus 
bound,  they  must  live  together,  honestly,  uprightly,  purely;  but 
when  two  people  are  bound  together  and  not  joined  by  the  power 
of  love,  then  we  feel  that  though  they  are  united,  they  are  not 
•truly  married,  though  they  are  bound,  they  are  not  tied  by  the 
sweet  bond  of  matrimony.  Love  is  the  cementing  power  in  mar- 
riage-. By  love,  I  do  not  mean  sickly  sentimentality.  By  love,  I  do 
not  mean  the  heaving  of  sighs.  By  love*,  I  do  not  mean  the  loss  of 
appetite  and  the  lack  of  power  to  sleep.  By  love,  I  do  not  mean  the 
loss  of  that  vitality  which  ought  to  produce  virile  life.  By  love,  I  do 
not  mean  that  indefinite  longing  which  seeks  expression  by  the 
touching  of  hands  or  the  "playing  with  feet."  By  love,  I  do  not 
mean  that  merely  animal  state  that  finds  its  satisfaction  in  sensual 
thrills.  But  by  love,  I  do  mean  the  offering  of  life  unto  life,  the 
surrendering  of  heart  to  heart,  the  finding  of  the  other  part  of  one's 
own  soul.  By  love,  1  mean  sacrifice,  the  willingness  to  toil,  to  slave, 
to  strive,  to  struggle,  to  fight,  for  the  object  of  our  affection.  This  is 
love.  "Love  is  our  morning  star  and  our  evening  star."  It  is  the 
rainbow  that  shines  amid  the  storms  of  life.  The  voice  of  love  is  the 
sweetest  music;  it  is  the  mother  of  melody.  Without  love,  marriage 
is  the  act  of  mere  animals.  With  love,  marriage  is  the  union  of 
hearts  as  well  as  of  hands,  through  it  "earth  becomes  a  paradise  and 
we  walk  it  like  gods."  Love  is  the  poetry  of  existence,  the  music 
of  life,  and  where  you  find  man  and  woman  bound  by  this  tie,  in 
harmony  with  the  civil  laws  which  we  make  and  with  due  regard 
for  the  demands  of  religion,  there  you  find  marriage.  Where  you 
find  it  not,  men  may  sign  contracts  which  must,  nevertheless,  be 
kept,  men  may  enter  into  bonds  which  must  be  observed,  but  this 
is  not  true  marriage. 

Theodore  Parker  is  reported  to  have  said,  in  his  last  days, 
that  he  had  always  striven  to  maintain  loving  relations  with  his 
wife.  In  order  to  achieve  this  desirable  end,  he  had  set  himself 
these  rules:  "That  he  would  never,  without  the  best  reasons, 


oppose  the  will  of  his  wife;  that  he  would  do  all  service  for  her 
sake  freely;  that  he  would  never  look  cross  at  her;  that  he  would 
never  scold  her;  that  he  would  never  weary  her  with  commands; 
that  he  would  love,  honor,  cherish  and  defend  her."  And  wherever 
you  have  men  and  women  (because  these  rules  apply  mutually),  who 
thus  understand  marriage,  there  you  will  find  the  sweetest  fruits 
of  marriage  grow.  When  these  considerations  prompt  marriage, 
then  though  our  pathway  be  amid  thorns  and  briers,  we  shall, 
nevertheless,  pluck  roses  by  the  way.  Wherever  these  considera- 
tions do  not  prompt  marriage,  then,  though  you  have  brillant  cere- 
monies, then,  though  you  have  many  guests  to  celebrate  marriage 
with  you,  then,  though  you  have  never  so  great  a  display  of  gifts 
and  presents  from  people  who  are  supposed  to  congratulate  that 
which  does  not  deserve  congratulation,  then  marriage  becomes 
like  Dead  Sea  fruit,  full  of  the  powder  and  ashes  of  unavailing 
regrets. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  but  that  we  are  living  in  a  very 
practical  age.  So  practical  are  we,  nowadays,  that  most  of  us 
accept  nothing  without  proof.  The  first  statement  we  make  in 
connection  with  any  proposition  is,  "Prove  it;"  and  if  proof  is 
not  immediately  forthcoming,  the  proposition  has  no  sanction  for 
most  ot  us.  Society  is  surfeited  with  doubt  and  scepticism,  leaving 
little  room  even  for  logical  rational  beliefs,  Religion  is  now  pass- 
ing through  a  very  trying  position  because  of  this  attitude  of  men 
and  women  towards  it.  There  is  no  statement  made  in  the  pulpit 
to-day,  but  at  once  it  is  challenged  by  the  pews.  It  is  a  new 
attitude,  and  it  is,  in  most  respects,  a  rightful  demand.  The  day 
has  gone  by  when  a  preacher  is  a  priest,  when  the  pulpit  is  the 
keeper  of  the  people's  conscience,  whpn  the  preacher  has  the  right 
to  dogmatically  state  that  "this  is  the  truth  ana  no  questions  may 
be  askeu."  The  day  is  fast  going  by,  and  pray  God  it  may  soon 
ue  gone  forever,  wnen  men  may  teach,  with  a  show  of  authority, 
that  God  breaks  riis  own  laws.  The  days  are  fast  passing  by 
when  preachers  and  teachers  may,  unchallenged,  force  opinions 
upon  men,  in  place  of  truths,  theories  instead  of  lacts.  Conscious 
as  we  are  of  how  little  can  be  absolutely  proven,  we  acknowledge 
the  justice  of  the  demand  that,  at  least  logical  reasons  must  be 
given  lor  the  position  taken  by  the  teachers  of  the  children  of 
man.  We  may  hope  that  the  days  are  nigh  at  hand  when  men 
will  ask  for  a  rational  belief,  to  supplant  a  credulous  faith.  Living 
in  sucn  a  period,  we  understand  that  things  held  sacred  for  thou- 
sands of  years,  do  necessarily,  in  a  transition  period,  lose  their 

6 


sanctity.  And  there  can  be  but  little  doubt,  if  we  understand 
what  we  hear,  read  and  observe,  that  marriage,  to-day,  is  in  a  de- 
generate condition. 

According  to  modern  social  conditions,  it  quite  often  appears 
that  marriage  is  not  a  match,  it  is  a  catch;  it  is  not  a  union  of 
hearts,  but  a  joining  of  properties.  Marriage  is  not  something 
holy,  something  sacred,  something  unselfish.  Marriage  does  not 
mean  the  subordination  of  the  "ego"  for  the  benefit  of  the  race; 
but  marriage  has  become  the  very  apotheosis  of  selfishness.  When 
people  enter  into  a  matrimonial  alliance,  thy  simply  ask,  like  so 
many  politicians,  "What's  in  it  for  us?"  The  "golden"  rule 
applies  to  marriage  not  in  the  sense  of  love,  but  in  the  sense  of 
selfishness.  Marriage  to-day  has  become  a  matter  of  arrange- 
ment, to  a  large  degree.  It  does  not  presuppose  that  the  woman 
has  a  right  to  wait  until  she  has  met  her  other  self,  nor,  that  the 
man  is  seeking  that  which  shall  become  to  him  the  true  comple- 
ment of  his  life.  Marriage,  only  too  frequently,  means  the  addi- 
tion of  bank  account  to  bank  account,  wealth  to  wealth,  position 
to  position.  It  does  not  mean  that  we  are  careful  of  the  character 
of  the  individuals  to  be  wed,  or  that  we  investigate  the  state  of 
health  of  the  individuals  to  be  married,  or  tnat  we  regard  the 
character,  the  moral  standing,  the  cleanliness  of  habits  of  the 
parties  to  be  allied.  It  often  means  that  we  have  more  respect 
for  the  pedigrees  of  our  horses  and  dogs  than  we  have  for  our 
grandcmldren.  it  means  that  we  sell  our  daughters,  legally,  as 
the  ancients  sold  their  children,  barbarously.  It  means  that  we 
sacrifice  our  daughters  to  Moloch,  the  degrading  god  of  a  debased 
society,  as  did  people  of  old.  Sometimes  marriage  is  forced  on  a 
maid.  A  girl  is  confronted  by  conditions  that  mean  that  she  must 
either  support  herself  or  be  dependent  on  relatives,  or  go  through 
life  alone,  so  that  she  cannot  enjoy  the  society  of  the  opposite  sex, 
for  rumor  would  take  from  her  her  character.  Parents  plead  with 
such  a  girl  to  wed,  to  take  the  first  chance  which  comes  along,  be- 
cause it  relieves  ihem  of  a  burden,  and  will,  probably,  insure  pro- 
tection during  coming  years.  This  forced  marriage  is  to  me 
despicaole.  it  is  not  man  seeking  maid,  but  male  uniting  with 
temaie.  It  is  the  surrender  of  all  self-respect.  A  thousand  ...mes 
i  would  rather  have  my  child  remain  forever  alone,  than,  moved  by 
such  considerations,  to  be  chained  for  life  to  the  whim  of  one 
who  can  rarely  be  worthy  of  her  respect,  'men,  too,  there  is  the 
marriage  of  convenience.  You  may,  in  this  country,  not  have 
seen  two  wonderful  pictures  painted  by  Orchardson,  the  great  Eng- 

7 


lish  artist.     INO  one  who  has  seen  them  could  have  felt  but  that 
ne  had  gazed  on  a  sermon  in  color.     In  one  there  may  be  observed 
an  old  man,  sated  with  the  pleasures  of  the  world,  seated  before 
a   table   witn   a   young,    delicate,    but   fashionable-looking   woman. 
They   nave   married   "for   convenience'    sake."     Sne   wanted   more 
lioerty,  he  more  money.     Sne  wanted  the  freedom,  with  which  his 
name  could   dower  her.     He  wanted   more   of  the   world's   goods. 
The  picture  is  called  "Le  Mariage  de  Convenance."  The  draperies 
and  bric-a-brac  are  beautiful;   the  table  is  covered  with  foods,  the 
most  costiy  and  with  decorations  most  exquisite,  with  silver  the 
most   gorgeous.     At  the   side   of  this   picture   there   was   another 
picture,   tfie  sequel,  as  it  were,   and   called     &.n.er."       The   same 
drapenes,  the  same  bric-a-brac,  tne  same  table,  the  same  silver, 
the  same  luxuries.     But  the  man  is  there  with  His  hands  in  his 
pockets,  his  head  upon  his  chest,  his  feet  extended  toward  the 
tire,  alone,  with  nothing  but  a  nameless  shame  for  his  company  and 
h'is  vain  regrets  for  his  companion.     This  is  your  "marriage  of  con- 
venience."    We  call  by  a  name  I  must  not  use  here  a  woman  who 
sells  herself  for  bread,  or  for  the  support  of  her  children.     How 
much  better  beiore  God  is  a  woman  who  does  not  need  bread,  yet 
sells  herself  for  social  position?    We  say  that  our  garments  must 
not  touch  those  of  a  fallen  sister  for  fear  of  contamination.     How 
much  more  contaminating  are  those  women,  who  having  all  and 
needing  nothing,  yet,  for  a  brilliant  position,  sell  themselves?     This 
is  not  popular  talk.     This  is  not  the  kind  of  talk  that  pleases;  but 
I  hope  to  God,  it  is  the  kind  that  burns  into  the  soul,  that  will  make 
parents  pause  before  they  become  a  party  to  the   sale  of  their 
chim  and  make  every  young  girl  pause  before  she  sells  herself  to 
a  man  unworthy  of  her,  and  wno  cannot  bring  to  the  altar  of  God 
the  purity  and  the  innocence  and  the  virtue  that  he  demands  of 
her!   Is  Max  Nordau  altogether  wrong  when,  in  earnestness,  yet  in 
bitterness,  he  says  the  following: 

"Why  should  we  blame  the  man  or  woman  of  our  civilization 
because  he  or  she  looks  upon  marriage  as  a  charitable  institution,  a 
'Sheltering  Arms,'  and  when  a  proposal  is  made  looks  around  to  see 
if  any  one  bids  higher.  They  see  that  the  world  takes  the  amount 
of  the  fortune  as  the  measure  of  the  worth  of  the  individual;  they 
see  the  rich  faring  sumptuously  and  Lazarus  lying  in  the  dust  at  the 
gate,  to-day  as  well  as  in  the  Bibical  times;  they  know  the  crush 
and  the  weariness  of  the  struggle  for  existence  and  the  difficulty  of 
winning  a  victory  in  it;  they  know  that  they  can  only  count  upon 
their  individual  selves  and  strength,  and  if  they  fall  that  they  need 
expect  no  acceptable  help  from  the  community.  What  wonder  then 
that  they  look  upon  every  act  of  their  life,  marriage  included,  solely 
and  exclusively  from  the  standpoint  of  their  personal,  palpable  ad- 
vantage in  the  struggle  for  existence?  Why  should  they  allow  love 


to  influence  them  in  the  selection  of  a  husband  or  wife?  Because 
humanity  would  be  better  off  by  it?  What  do  they  care  for  hu- 
manity? What  has  humanity  done  for  them?  Does  it  satisfy  their 
appetite  when  they  are  hungry?  Does  it  give  them  work  when  they 
can  find  no  work  to  do?  Does  it  feed  their  children  when  they  are 
clamoring  for  bread?  And  if  they  die  will  it  support  their  widows, 
their  orphans?  No,  and  as  it  does  not  fulfill  any  of  these  duties 
toward  them,  they  have  only  their  individual  selves  to  consider,  and 
look  upon  love  as  an  agreeable  pastime  and  upon  marriage  as  a 
means  of  increasing  their  share  of  the  goods  of  this  world."  ("Con- 
ventional Lies  of  our  Civilization,"  p.  288). 

No! "  Do  not  think  that  we  can  enter  into  any  such  scheme  and 
have  God's  law  work  with  us.  I  am  not  foolish  enough  to  believe 
that  God's  law  is  written  in  a  book.  It  is  too  grand  a  thing  to  be 
written  on  the  pages  of  a  human  work.  The  Bible  is  an  attempt  to 
interpret  God's  law,  spiritually,  morally  and  ethically.  God's  law  is 
written  in  the  universe,  and  you  can  no  more  play  with  God's  law 
than  you  can  with  edged  tools  without  running  into  danger.  The 
law  of  na'ture,  which  is  the  law  of  God,  seems  to  be  that  marriage 
must  be  the  product  of  love  to  produce  the  normal  results  desired 
by  nature;  that  where  there  is  no  love  there  may  be  a  contract,  but 
there  cannot  be  true  marriage.  Where  there  is  no  love,  matrimony 
may  be  a  matter  of  money  and  the  little  Cupid  may  be  cupidity,  but 
there  is  not  the  union  of  souls  needed  to  effect  nature's  true  purposes. 
Scholarly  men,  men  of  wide  vision  and  careful  observation,  have  no- 
ticed that  you  find  love  among  people  in  proportion  as  you  find  peo- 
ple necessary  to  each  other;  and  it  has  been  often  pointed  out  that 
you  find  most  love  among  the  very  poorest  of  people.  I  do  not  mean 
to  say,  nor  do  these  writers  mean  to  teach,  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  love  among  rich  people,  but  it  is  found  much  less  rarely, 
they  show,  among  the  rich  than  among  the  poor.  Love,  which  is  the 
attraction  of  soul  to  soul,  is  found  much  more  among  the  poor  than 
the  so-called  high  and  the  wealthy  classes.  The  product  of  love  in 
the  form  of  a  child,  is  said  to  be  the  better,  the  healthier,  the  more 
vigorous,  the  more  fully  equipped  for  the  struggles  of  life,  when  love 
has  stirred  the  father  and  affection  moved  the  mother.  The  conse- 
quence is  that  tue  gospel  of  "little  love  and  little  families"  is  scarcely 
recognized  among  the  poor.  They  seem  to  understand  the  prompt- 
in  of  nature's  law  better  than  the  wealthy  do.  Their  children,  born 
amid  conditions  of  mire  and  filth,  that  would  kill  us,  become  the  con- 
querors and  victors  later  on.  They  become  the  strugglers  and  the 
fighters.  They  are  the  people  who  are  giving  to  the  world  to-day  its 
thew  and  its  muscle,  its  brawn  and  later  on  its  brain,  generally 
speaking.  The  consequence  is  that  in  the  race  of  life  the  poor  have 
the  best  advantages,  though  it  does  not  seem  so.  Follow  the  stories 

9 


of  tae  families  of  the  rich  and  you  will  see  how  soon  degenercy  im- 
pairs the  vitality  of  their  offspring.  Follow  the  families  of  the  poor 
and  you  will  find  that  they  are  to-day  the  people  who  provide  society 
with  the  ranks  from  which  to  draw  recruits  for  the  army  of  civiliza- 
tion. When  wealth  weds  wealth  without  love,  degenercy  in  progeny 
almost  invariably  follows,  and  in  spite  of  beautiful  surroundings  and 
healthful  conditions,  in  spite  of  the  rearing  of  children  amid  an  al- 
most perfect  environment,  you  find  a  feeble  race  compared  to  the 
children  of  the  poor  who  become  strong  and  vigorous.  They,  too, 
in  time  err  and  go  the  way  of  destruction  that  has  afflicted  every 
land  and  people,  who  have  presumed  to  ignore  the  law,  natural  and 
divine.  We  conclude,  therefore,  that  only  when  love  prompts  mar- 
riage, can  we  hope  to  find  ideal  progeny;  only  where  affection  seeks 
affection  are  we  likely  to  find  those  children,  who  are  worthy  to 
carry  on  the  mission  of  the  human  race. 

Now,  friends,  let  us  be  honest.  Let  us  be  open  with  each  other. 
The  conditions  pointed  out  this  morning  are  either  true  or  untrue, 
'ihey  may  apply  to  us  or  not.  If  true,  let  us  mend  them.  If  untrue, 
I  regret  that  I  have  wasted  an  hour  with  you.  If  they  can  be  im- 
proved, let  us  set  about  improving  them.  Let  us  not  leave  here 
to-day  saying,  "It  is  all  right,  but  what  are  we  going  to  do  about  it?" 
If  woman  will  be  for  modern  humanity  what  she  was  for  Israel,  for 
the  Talmud  tells  us  that  "by  the  influence  of  righteous  women, 
Israel  was  redeemed  from  Egypt,"  if  woman  will  rise  to  the  height 
of  her  opportunity  she  can  become  the  redeemer  of  society.  She 
can  refuse  to  accept  the  man  who  is  not  worthy  of  her.  She  can  in- 
sist upon  domestic  morality,  virtue  and  purity;  and  though  many, 
under  these  circumstances,  may  never  enter  into  the  matrimonial 
tie,  a  thousand  times  better  that  they  never  marry  than  they  should 
marry  before  men  and  not  be  married  before  God. 

One  of  Socrates'  biog.  ciphers  tells  us  the  views  the  great  teacher 
held  concerning  marriage.  He  makes  a  young  husband  say  to  his 
bride: 

"Tell  me,  my  wife,  dost  thou  understand  why  I  have  chosen 
thee  and  why  thy  parents  have  given  thee  to  me?  From  this  day 
forth  all  that  is  in  this  house  is  ours  in  common;  the  interest  of  the 
family  and  the  home  demands  wont  without  and  within.  Now  the 
gods  adapted  the  nature  of  woman  for  the  cares  and  the  work  of  the 
interior,  and  that  of  man  for  the  cares  and  works  of  the  exterior. 
Cold,  heat,  travels,  wars,  man  is  so  constituted  as  to  be  able  to  bear 
all;  on  the  other  hand,  the  gods  have  given  to  woman  the  inclina- 
tion and  mission  to  nurse  her  offspring.  It  is  also  she  who  is  in 
charge  of  the  provisions,  whilst  man's  care  is  to  ward  off  all  that 
could  injure  the  household."  Continuing,  he  says  that  "the  sweet- 
est charm  shall  be  when  more  perfect  than  I  thou  shalt  have  made 

10 


me  thy  servant;  when,  instead  of  fearing  old  age  lest  it  deprive  thee 
of  thy  influence  in  thy  household,  thou  shalt  have  gained  the  assur- 
ance that  in  growing  old  thou  becomest  for  me  a  still  better  compan- 
ion, for  thy  children  a  still  better  mother,  and  for  thy  husband  a  still 
more  honored  mistress,  for  beauty  and  goodness  do  not  depend  on 
youth;  they  increase  through  life  by  means  of  virtue." 

These  words,  uttered  by  a  Greek  pagan,  "a  heathen,"  twenty- 
nve  centuries  ago,  may  be  safely  repeated  in  a  most  intelligent 
twentietn  century  audience.  These  words  are  true  concerning  the 
mass  of  women,  and  wnile  to-day  we  hold  that  woman's  sphere  does 
not  begin  and  end  in  the  field  indicated  by  Socrates,  it,  neverthe- 
less, remains,  forever,  her  most  important  function.  We  have  not 
yet  reached  perfection,  nor  are  we  surroundeu  by  perfect  condi- 
tions, we  are,  however,  much  nearer  ideal  conditions  than  ever 
before.  Ine  horrible  nightmare  of  loveless  marriage,  the  awful 
shame  of  forced  marriage,  the  regrettable  marriage  for  convenience' 
saKe,  will  pass  away,  ultimately,  just  as  promiscity  has  disappeared 
and  given  rise  to  monogamy. 

We  understand  our  duty  better,  nowadays.  Parents  are  being 
better  instructed,  fhysicians  speak  on  this  subject  more  openly. 
The  clergy  speak  to-day  as  they  did  not  dare  to  a  generation  or 
more  ago.  We  may  indulge  the  hope  that  marriage  will  be  uni- 
versally regarded  as  a  union  of  hearts  as  well  as  of  bodies,  a 
union  of  consecrated  loves,  a  bond,  which  serves  the  purpose  of 
providing  for  society,  families  best  equipped  to  fulfil  the  functions 
designed  by  uod.  We  may  believe  that  love,  which  is  as  "strong 
as  death,"  will  effect  tne  union  that  shall  lead  to  a  future,  the  door 
of  which  will  not  turn  on  the  rusty  hinges  of  selfishness,  and  will 
produce  alliances  so  that  the  matrimonial  bark  will  not  founder  on 
the  sunken  rocks  of  deceit.  We  may  believe  that  when  the  ivy  of 
affection  clings  to  the  tree  of  human  life,  on  it  will  grow  buds  of 
devotion,  blossoms  of  faithfulness  and  flowers  of  love. 


11 


XITHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000124421     9 


HE  FOLLOWIN( 


>KS  AND  PAMPHLETS  ARE  FOR  SALE 
BY 


CHARLES    H.    JOSEPH, 

202  FERGUSON  BLOCK, 

PITTSBURG,  PA. 


WORKS  BY  RABBI  J.  LEONARD  LEVY. 


Talmud  "  Rosh   Hashana,"   or  New  Year,   the  first  English 
translation  of  this  work  ever  published 


*The  Lights  of  the  World,  (In  book  form,)      .    .    . 

*Modern   Society  " 

*The  Nineteenth  Century  " 

Questions  for  Our  Consideration,  (In  book  form,)  . 
Home  Service  for  the  Passover,  (In  pamphlet  form) 
Hopes  and   Beliefs  "  . 

Judaism,    Past,  Present  and   Future     "  "  . 


$  2.50 
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SUNDAY  LECTURES  BY  RABBI  J.  LEONARD  LEVY. 


Series  A,   1893-1894. 

1.  Abreast  of  the  Times. 

2.  "What  has  the  Jew  done  for  the  World  ? 

3.  The  Believing  Sceptic. 

4.  Reliance  on  Science. 

5.  The  Unity  of  all  Religions. 

6.  What  is  the  Messiah? 

7.  The  Rule  of  Right. 

8.  Forever  and  Forever. 

9.  Are  Women  Superstitious? 

10.  Are  Reform  Jews  becoming  Christians? 

11.  The  Survival  of  the  Rrpublic. 

12.  Reformers,  Deformers  and  Defamers. 

13.  An  Easter  Vision. 

14.  After  the  Winter,  Spring. 

15.  True  Till  Death. 

Series  B,    1894-1895. 

1.     Masters  of  the  Situation. 
>.     The  Greatest  Living  Wonder. 
5.     Criminal   Curiosity  and  Cowardly  Con- 
sistency. 

4.  Has  Satan  Conquered  God? 

The  Greater  Lights. 

5.  I.    The  Light  of  the  World— Moses  and 

th-  Prophets. 
A  Night  in  the  Slums. 

7.  II.    The  Light  of  the  Orient— Confucius. 

8.  A  Parent's  Blessing. 

9.  III.     The  Light  of  Asia— Buddha. 

10.  Heroes  and  Hero  tie-. 

11.  TV.     The  Light  of  Iran— Zoroaster. 

12.  V.     The  Light  of  Christendom— Jesus. 

13.  VI.     The  Light  of  Arabia — Mohammed. 

14.  The  Holy  Catholic  Church. 
l.i.  Sunday  Newspapers. 

Series  C,    1395—1896. 

1.  The  New  Jew. 

2.  Put  Yourself  in  his  Place. 

3.  Home. 

4.  A  Pilgrim's  Journey  to  Mt.  Zion. 

5.  Modern  Society. 

(i.  America  and  England. 

7.  Our  Girls  and  Boys. 

x.  Orthodox  Saints  and  Reform  Sinners. 

9.  The  Church  and  the  State. 

10.  Being  Dead,  They  Yet  Speak. 

11.  The  Radicals  Appeal. 

12.  At  the  Grave  of  Jesus. 

13.  Overcoming  Obstacles. 

14.  A  Common-Sense  View  of  Religion. 

Series  D,   1896— J897. 

1.  Some  Questions  of  the  Day. 

2.  The  Greatest  Work  Ever  Written. 

3.  Success  and  Failure. 

4.  Svri  i  and  Palestine. 

.ri.     The  Most  Remarkable  Work  Ever 

Written. 

fi.    The  Jewish  Man. 
7      The  Jewish  Woman. 

lie  Jewish  Youth 
Is  Judaism  Catholic? 

10.  Songs  without  Words. 

11.  Anti-Semitism,  its  Cause  and  Cure. 

12.  "  My  God,   my  God,  why  hast  Thou  for- 

saken me?" 

13.  See  that  ihe  Republic  receive  no  harm. 


Series  E,    1897—1898. 

1.  Dare  the  Clergy  Tell  the  Truth  ? 

2.  Are  Our  Cities  in  Danger  ? 

3.  "  The  School  for  Scandal." 

1.  Where  did  Religion  come  from  ? 

•x  "  Because  Mother  told  me  so." 

(1.  '•  Weighed  in  the  Balance." 

7.  Custom  and  Conscience. 

8.  Are  we  Jews  ? 

9.  Unrequited  Affection. 

10.  Which  Sabbath  ought  we  Observe  ? 

11.  What  good  has  Ingersollistn  done? 

12.  What  advantage  has  the  Jew? 

13.  The  Altar  at  the  Hearth. 

Series  F,   1898—1899. 

1.  The  Fi-st  Doubt. 

2.  "  What  Will  People  Say?" 

3.  The  Basis  of  Matrimony. 
I.  The  Rivals. 

5.  A  Child's  Blessing. 

f>.  The  Dawn  of  the  New  Era. 

~.  Nursery  Rhymes  and  Superstitions. 

ood  Literature. 

9.  The  Lessons  of  History. 

10.  The  Struggle  for  Liberty. 

11.  What  Art  May  Do. 

12.  The  Lost  Paradise. 

II!.  The  Risen  Jew,  or  Paradise  Regained. 

14.  Nature  as  a  Teacher. 
I\  The  Drama. 

Series  G,   1899—1900. 

1.  "  New  Lamps  for  Old  Ones  ;  "  or 

The  Children  of  the  Ghetto. 

2.  The  Jew  and  the  Gentile. 

3.  The  Truth. 

4.  Home  Life  among  the  Jews. 
'•>.  Israel's  Immortals. 

(i.  "  Onward  and  Upward." 

7.  The  Sin  Against  Love. 

s.  A  Fool's  Paradise. 

9.  ''Logic  taught  by  Love." 

10.  The  Jew  and  the  Synagogue. 

11.  Woman.     A  Purim" Sermon. 
Man's  Inhumanity  to  Man. 

lo.  The  Moth  and  the  Flame. 

1<.  The  Best  is  Yet  to  Come. 

Series  H,   1900—1901. 

1.  Fashion  and  Reality. 

2.  "  The  Reign  of  Law." 

3.  Religion  in  the  Nineteenth  Century. 

4.  The  Bible  in  the  Nineteenth  Century. 

Me  Jew  in  the  Nineteenth  Century. 

<,.  "  Our  Kin  Across  the  Sea  " 

7.  Science  in  the  Nineteenth  Century. 

B.  Her  Majesty.  Queen  Victoria. 

<>.  The  Greatest  Discovery  of  the 

>;ineteenth  Century. 

10.  The  Jew's  Revenge. 

11.  The  Heart's  Best  Love. 

12.  Retrospect  and  Prospect. 


The  above  Lectures  can  be  obtained  at  5  cts. 
per  copy.        Apply  to 

CHARLES  H.  JOSEPH, 
202  Ferguson  Block,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 


PUBLICITY    PRES, 
DICK  4  CO.-PGH 


